The Penn State uniform is iconic, celebrating team instead of individuals. When Penn State coach Bill O’Brien took over the job, he loosened the reins on the traditions instituted by his predecessor, the late Joe Paterno.

Players could have beards and wear ball caps. But there was one thing he said it wouldn’t come near: “I’m not touching the uniform,” he said in the spring. “When you turn on the television and you see Penn State, everybody in the world knows that it’s Penn State because of the uniform. That’s the type of person I am; how important team is to me. White helmet, blue jerseys, no name on the back of the jersey.”

This week he said, in short, he could change his mind. And there are indications that he has. The Penn State name has been sullied in scandal and O’Brien hinted that it might be in the program’s best interest to separate itself from it as much as possible, and that could include a uniform change.

“There's a lot of discussions going on with our football team right now,” he said at Big Ten Media Day. “We've got a group of young men there, like I said, that are sticking together. And there's changes that have taken place at Penn State over the last six months that are reflected already. There’s a new era of Penn State football. And some of the changes people will have to wait and see until September, on September 1st.”

That’s the day of the opening kickoff at home against Ohio.

On Friday, he went a step further: "Turn the page," he told reporters. "It's a new era. Changes were made in 1966, probably, right? Changes are going to be made in 2012."

Truly, it will mark the start of a new chapter for the program. Sanctions will slash the roster to 65 scholarship players in coming years and severely restrict the number of offers Penn State can make to players. O’Brien is taking the penalties perhaps even better than one might expect.

“I've heard the talk that this is so bad and what are we going to do. I don't see it that way. I don't see it that way,” he said. “I see it as an opportunity. I see it as a little bit of adversity that we need to overcome.

“I came from a league where there were 53 players on the roster, eight practice squad players and 45 players on the active roster, 21 on offense, 21 on defense, three specialists on game day. So I'm pretty well aware of how to handle a roster of 65 scholarship players. So we have plans in place. I'm not going to get into the details of those. They're already in the works. But I don't think that that's as bad as everybody says it is.”